Fabio Maldonado
Fabiano Maldonado is a light-heavyweight fighter. Entering the UFC He made his UFC debut against former heavyweight James McSweeney. McSweeney looked good in the first round but he punched himself out and he was gassed a minute or two into the second round. The second was a round in which Maldonado completely dominated. Maldonado taunted the exhausted McSweeney openly in the third round and finished him via standing TKO in the third. He next faced Kyle Kingsbury, losing via unanimous decision. Maldonado broke Kingsbury's orbital bone in the process however. Maldonado next signed up to welcome former heavyweight Aaron Rosa to the 205-pound weight class. Unfortunately Maldonado was injured and forced to pull out of the bout. He was replaced with Matt Lucas. After recovering, Maldonado next signed to face Stanislav Nedkov in his own native Brazil. Nedkov was injured and replaced by newcomer Caio Magalhaes. Unfortunately a few weeks before the bout was set to take place, Maldonado was soon injured as well. After recovering, Maldonado next signed to face Igor Pokrajac. He lost a close unanimous decision after a fun technical war. Maldonado next stepped in as a late replacement for Quinton Jackson against Glover Teixeira in Brazil, showing tons of heart and guts in his third straight loss via doctor stoppage between the second and third rounds. After recovering Maldonado next faced Roger Hollett in Brazil, defeating Hollett via unanimous decision despite suffering a nasty spinning back kick to the groin. Maldonado next signed to fight brawler Joey Beltran defeating Beltran via a narrow split decision. He called out veterans Chael Sonnen and James Te-Huna with the victory. Instead Maldonado next signed to fight Strikeforce veteran Gian Villante. After a rocky first round Maldonado rallied to dominate the final bloody two rounds to earn a unanimous decision. Maldonado next moved up to heavyweight temporarily on late notice to replace injured former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos against contender Stipe Miocic. The much bigger Miocic quickly disposed of Maldonado via first round knockout. Maldonado then moved back to light-heavyweight to fight Hans Stringer defeating Stringer via a second round technical knockout. Maldonado next signed to welcome former UFC light-heavyweight champion and Pride/Bellator veteran Quinton Jackson back to the UFC in what was sure to be a standup war. After some hardy legal issues the fight did take place as scheduled; it was surprisingly lackluster and Jackson came out victorious via unanimous decision. Maldonado then fought Corey Anderson losing a tepidly paced unanimous decision before being finally cut from the UFC. Outside the UFC After a decent layoff Maldonado signed for his first post-UFC fight in Russia against former Pride heavyweight champion and one of the consensus 'greatest of all time' fighters Fedor Emelianenko. The general belief among fans and analysts was that Maldonado was a lamb to the slaughter as much as - if not more than - he had been with the Miocic fight. Maldonado battered Fedor for much of the fight and then appeared to either run out of energy or hold back from finishing Emelianenko. After the bizarre fight ended Emelianenko was handed a very bizarre majority decision. The 'victory' was widely seen as controversial by MMA fans and analysts alike. Maldonado appealed the loss and not long afterwards the 'win' was overturned to a draw officially. Fights *Fabio Maldonado vs. Jessie Gibbs *Fabio Maldonado vs. James McSweeney - The fight was Maldonado's UFC debut and James McSweeney's debut at light-heavyweight. *Kyle Kingsbury vs. Fabio Maldonado *Fabio Maldonado vs. Hans Stringer *Quinton Jackson vs. Fabio Maldonado *Corey Anderson vs. Fabio Maldonado *Fabio Maldonado vs. Fedor Emelianenko Category:Light-heavyweight fighters